February 20, 2014

#WhitePaper - Unionists don’t simply need a plan, they need a story

"For a long time now, the case for the United Kingdom has been made in a tiresomely negative sense... Practical difficulties are the things politicians are elected to solve. Or at least ameliorate. The case for the Union needs to be about something bigger and better than that. Unionists don’t simply need a plan, they need a story."

Massie wants a rational and intelligent case for the union. He wants to build and promote a positive, confident unionism. He said in a later post here:

"Better Together needs a story about the future as well as the past and that narrative needs to be based on something good, not on gloomy predictions of mass unemployment after independence."

"Never stop. Never give up. Never give the impression that you are doing anything other than moving forward and exceeding expectations. Whether I like it or not –and I don’t – the fact is that Sinn Fein is brilliant at propaganda.

Unionism used to be brilliant at propaganda and organisation. If you don’t believe me then read Alan Parkinson’s ‘Friends in High Places,’ a superb account of how we resisted Irish Home Rule. There’ll you’ll see how all the strands of the pro-Union family agreed on a strategy and then promoted that strategy. You’ll be astonished by the sophistication and depth of the campaign, particularly at a time when there weren’t computers and mobile phones, let alone Facebook and Twitter."

"I really don’t see the point of a strategy which is built around a weekly application for a parade past Ardoyne. Either the whole thing will just fizzle out (like Drumcree) or it will just turn very nasty one Saturday. Both of those outcomes are bad for unionism/Orangeism and represent an ultimately pointless campaign."

"Unionism/Orangeism needs to become more sophisticated in its thinking and more subtle in its strategies. Almost everything we do is a reaction rather than a first step. We are obsessed with looking weak in the eyes of family members, so spend too much time in macho showdowns with each other. Even NI21 sets out its stall in terms of its contrasts with mainstream unionism rather than how it will counter Sinn Fein’s strategies."

He also made a note for Peter Robinson:

"And Robinson, as leader of the largest unionist party must, like Trimble before him, set out the political and electoral realities for unionism and promote a confident, persuasive, comfortable agenda."

THE NEW IRISHMAN

A blog promoting a broader view of Irish history and identity. A blog examining Irish unionism and presenting a pro-Union stance that is positive and progressive.

"Unionists need to understand their own history. They need to understand the causes and consequences of that history. They need to understand the nature of their relationship with Dublin, London, republicanism/nationalism and with each other. They need to understand and explain the idealism which underpins their beliefs and they need to begin to “imagine and forge a future illuminated by the unfulfilled promises of our past”."

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